Andy Warhol and his complex relationship with the HIV/AIDS epidemic of the '80s
The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh; Founding Collection, Contribution The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. Public Domain.
How many people can speak about Andy Warhol’s works outside of his silkscreens depicting mega pop icons by the likes of Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor? No one ties Andy Warhol to HIV/AIDS, or even can recollect him speaking publicly on it to any degree, although he lived in the height of its ravage. Warhol’s The Last Supper (The Big C), 1986 was a part of his final collection of work before his unforeseen death in 1987.
To truly understand the depth of this piece is to understand the climate in which the piece was made, Warhol’s relationship with his sexuality, his religion, and how guarded he actually was in revealing his true identity in the public eye. These components tie into his unique portrayal of a global epidemic on canvas.
In true pop art fashion, Warhol exhibits his near-obsession with Americana in The Last Supper (The Big C). Including motorbikes in his works was common; they can be noticed in numerous other pieces like Mineola Motorcycle (positive),1985–86. And Marlon, a silkscreen from 1966, picturing the American actor Marlon Brando slumped over the front of a motorcycle with a heartthrob gaze. Motorcycles resembled freedom and rebellion to Warhol, which he translated into countless works. In The Last Supper (The Big C), Warhol’s repetition of motorcycles juxtaposes with the many faces of Christ, hand-painted, some in varying sizes and angles.
Alongside these images is the commercial logo of the Wise Potato Chip Company (now Wise Foods), “All-seeing eye” positioned in the upper right corner. Warhol made his name as a commercial artist at advertising agencies and prominent magazines throughout New York City at the beginning of his career; constant logomania and embedment of commercialization within his works manifest incessantly due to his early experiences within the field.
The numbers 699 outlined in a bold red color — seem to reference a price tag, but in connecting the chosen numbers in context with the many faces of Christ, one could only assume its actual, metaphorical correlation is a religious one (“Mark of the Beast,” 666, from the Book of Revelations). The numbers can even suggest sexuality, with 6 and 9 relating to a sexual position (69).
An intricate play with Christian purity motifs to starkly contrast with the more deviant ones. In black ink, almost entirely centered in the piece is “The Big C.” Many have commented that this is not a work referencing The HIV/AIDS epidemic.
With more scrutinizing, “The Big C” can be referencing “the gay cancer,” — as many called it since it was not yet named adequately for what we now know as HIV and AIDS. In the ’80s, it was widely known as the deadly “cancer” seemingly prevalent in gay communities.
In 1981 New York Times released an article with the headline “Rare Cancer Seen in 41 Homosexuals,” this article was all that was needed to spread mass fear and misinformation. It was an article detailing the first known cases of HIV in a group of men from New York and San Francisco.
Warhol was notorious for being phobic towards hospitals and illnesses, especially after his gunshot wound injury in 1968. With the horror and uncertainty of this new ‘disease’ and the media fanning its fear, he too fell victim to intense anxiety and trepidation towards anyone rumored of having HIV or being around it.
Warhol began writing about “the gay cancer” in the privacy of his diary early on its inception. His writing reads as full of judgment and falsities about the virus, with one notable entry recounting how he didn’t even want to be in the same space with a fellow peer since the news of his contracting HIV was out. Warhol had a nonsensical fear of falling ill with HIV through touch, sharing drinks, and even transmission through air droplets from speaking. These extreme myths and deluded misconceptions about how HIV spread were common and shared amongst the masses.
Fear consumed most once the virus was known to obliterate bodies and kill some people within only a few months of infection — and to also mention, there was no known cure. Warhol’s fear of the virus was so intense that he even had these thought processes with his beloved partner, Jon Gould, who, for some time, lived with Andy in his New York City brownstone and would die in 1986 — suspected of AIDS.
As recorded in his diary, The Andy Warhol Diaries, edited and published by Pat Hackett: “Jon Gould was admitted to New York Hospital with pneumonia on February 4, 1984, and released on February 22. He was readmitted the next day, however, and released again on March 7. On that day, Andy instructed his housekeepers Nena and Aurora: ‘From now on, wash Jon’s dishes and clothes separate from mine.’” This fear of the unknown virus wiping out his loved ones, circle of friends, and peers — even the rich and the famous, would stay with Andy till his death.
Andy Warhol grew up enamored with Christian paintings and imagery. While many artists from his era shied away from religious symbolism, Warhol maintained sprinkling his religious upbringing within his works. Coming from a family in Pittsburgh with deep Byzantine Catholic roots, Warhol was present for many religious services within his community as a young boy. Warhol’s proclamation of his faith to the public was likely stilted due to his inner conflicts of being a Queer person.
In examining many of Warhol’s religious suggestive works, he would often display a counterbalance between the purity of Christianity and its opposite parts — whether being temptation or any other diversion from the cultural norms of the time.
The Last Supper (The Big C) was completed at the peak of the HIV and AIDS crisis. Though some insist it has no definite relation to the virus, it may be unreasonable to write the artwork off as pure coincidental imagery seemingly pointing directly at it.
With Warhol’s existing phobia concerning sicknesses and the shame intensified in the gay community— it can be clear why Warhol was hesitant to be branded as being the artist to speak out for the virus, even through means of his creative work. And with constant speculation about his sexuality, the indignity of being a gay man (while also being Catholic) was not very welcoming during this time either.
Though unquestionably gay to most, Warhol never outwardly admitted his sexual orientation to the public. He would often claim to be “asexual” or be indifferent to sexuality whenever the question would arise. The Last Supper (The Big C) could have been his attempt to reflect and commemorate such a painful and drudged period for the world, especially a period for the gay community who got the brunt of the virus.
And even if this work is not memorializing those who passed from the virus, it raises questions as to what an artist's responsibility truly is. Must artists who gain a certain level of riches and fame be designated as the ‘voice of the people?’ Is it their responsibility to use their influence for the ‘betterment’ of society? Does it make them a bad person if they choose not to have a stance and just make the art they want to make?
Imagining oneself amid such continuous and ominous death within your community must have been traumatizing and eye-opening to many other toxic societal functions. Specifically, the toxicity within societies where people find it appropriate to cast others out due to their non-conforming lifestyles. Or the lack of sympathy for a group of people being the scapegoat for a new virus (them vs. us mentality.) Or even how the notion of sex has always been rife with judgment. The Last Supper (The Big C) can be the piece that Warhol gets credit for in acknowledging the HIV and AIDS epidemic of the ’80s — even if he did not speak candidly about it.
To some, the work is symbolic of the fear, doom, and eternal mourning for the lives lost during this turbulent era. The culture that the LGBTQ community has created worldwide is unequivocally enormous and incredibly rich.
A group of people stained with gratuitous theories and assumptions due to an illness that left a dent in their community deserves to be respected and recognized in famous artworks, too — even if others hesitate to hold that space for them.
